Cardinals ambush Liberty in Game One
Published 10:34 pm Thursday, May 11, 2017
By Caleb Adams
Leader Correspondent
PORT NECHES— The Bridge City Cardinals pounded the Liberty Panthers 11-1 in just five innings of play Thursday night in Port-Neches Groves in Game One of the best-of-three Class 4A Region III area round series at Port Neches-Groves High School Thursday night.
Liberty would find a run in the first inning off of a triple from J.J. Slack to setup Keegan Turner to drive him in with an RBI double. This would be the only time the Panthers scored on the night.
The Cardinals took it to the Panthers early and didn’t look back. The first three batters got on base for the Cardinals with Schuyler Thibodaux hitting a single, Logan Hamm reached on a walk and Caleb Dubois followed with a walk of his . Justyn Romero came up in the four hole and hit a grand slam to bring them all in. Romero had a grand slam in the Cardinals’ bidistrict series win against Huntington last Saturday as well as the Cardinals went out to a 4-1 lead after one inning of play.
Bridge City pumped out three more runs in the second frame. Gavin Green would reach on a single, Thibodaux would reach with another single and have Caleb Honeycutt pinch run for him at first base. Hamm would reach base on a single and Dubois would reach with a fielder’s choice and Hamm would be out at second base, but Green scored on the play. Kevin Gordon would knock in Honeycutt with a single, Luc Hollier plated Dubois with a fielder’s choice and Gordon would get out at second base as the Cardinals took a 7-1 lead after two innings.
In the fourth inning the Cardinals would seal the deal and score four runs to implement the 10-run rule in the fifth inning. Gordon, Hollier, Brady Coulter and Jackson Tims would all score for the Cardinals in the inning. Coulter, Tims and Green would all collect RBI’s in the frame..
Gordon pitched four innings for the Cardinals, striking out four while Peyton Havard pitched the fifth and fanned two.
The series shifts to Crosby High School Friday at 5 p.m. for Game Two. Game Three, if necessary, will be back at PN-G Saturday at 11a.m.
